A SECOND runway at Gatwick Airport would produce an extra one million tonnes of extra carbon emissions every year, according to climate activists.

Environmentalists have described plans for the country’s second-biggest airport to convert its emergency runway for routine use as “despicable”.

Communities Against Gatwick Noise and Emissions criticised “greedy shareholders” and called on Gatwick Airport to take responsibility for the emissions from planes departing and landing.

“It is despicable for a company to ignore the emissions that planes in and out of Gatwick produce that is causing grave danger for future generations that will have to pay the price for today’s greed of this leisure airport,” a statement from the organisation said.

The statement added: “Boris Johnson said listen to the science when it came to Covid, and elected members will be ignoring the science if they permitted this disastrous if they support this planning application to obtain planning for this second runway.”

The news comes weeks after a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) found that the climate emergency is already affecting every region of the planet and warns warming of 2C will be exceeded unless deep reductions in emissions occur in the coming decades.

Chief scientist for Greenpeace Dr Doug Parr explained that while he is sympathetic with the aviation industry’s struggles to survive, the environmental cost of a second runway would be too great.

“In the event there is any additional flying from Gatwick, it would be economically and environmentally wrong,” he said.

A public consultation on the proposal, which would create almost 20,000 new jobs and add an additional £1.5 billion to the local economy, will begin next month.

It is hoped the move will reduce delays and see 75 million passengers per year by 2038.

Gatwick Airport claims the move would be in line with government policy of making best use of runways, and would be delivered in a sustainable way to meet the government’s target of net zero emissions by 2050.

To be able to operate the stand-by runway for routine use, Gatwick will need to follow the development consent order process, which will culminate in a final decision by the Transport Secretary.

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